I Have Become Very Hairy

September 20, 2001

In the wake of the recent tragic events, Nerve is running a series of pieces from our archives dealing with grief and loss.

I Have Become Very Hairy

I have become very hairy all over my body.

I'm afraid they'll start hunting me because of my fur.

My multicolored shirt has no meaning of love —

it looks like an air photo of a railway station.

At night my body is open and awake under the blanket,

like eyes under the blindfold of someone to be shot.

Restless I shall wander about;

hungry for life I'll die.

Yet I wanted to be calm, like a mound with all its cities destroyed,

and tranquil, like a full cemetery.

© 1977 by Yehuda Amichai.

From Amen: Poems by Yehuda Amichai, published
by Milkweed Editions. All rights reserved.